The Kirk purge

Prof. Frank Rosenblatt writes here on Lawfare concerning the Defense Department's social media purge. Excerpt:

. . . Normally, military members enjoy broad First Amendment rights to share their views, limited only when the speech conflicts with military duties. But the past few months have seen a “Kirk Purge” in which those standards have been abandoned for newer decrees that seek to punish military members for their viewpoints. These new standards inject uncertainty about which viewpoints are disfavored, which tends to broadly chill otherwise protected expression.

The Kirk Purge is not unprecedented. It’s reminiscent of the mood following the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a national event that, like Kirk’s assassination, felt personal for many. In the aftermath, a conservative soldier made social media posts about the Capitol attack that were, at worst, in poor taste. For this, he received a career-killing reprimand from a general who was eager to take action. Time cooled this zeal, and the punishment was rescinded. It was a lesson that military leaders can sometimes be tempted to control expression that is otherwise protected, especially during political controversies.